Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Background

The Global Goals, also known as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are a collection of 17 goals and 169 targets set by the United Nations to stimulate action over the next 15 years in areas of critical importance for humanity and the planet. Achieving the SDGs requires the partnership of governments, the private sector, civil society and citizens alike.

As part of the Focused Reporting benchmark analysis, it has been examined if and in how far sustainability reports are aligned according to the SDGs.

More than half of analysed Swiss companies report on SDGs

In total, 52% of analysed companies address the SDGs in its sustainability or annual report (in 2017: 29%), including

21% with a brief mention of the SDGs (in 2017: 13%)

31% aligning the report or strategy accordingly (in 2017: 16%)

In 2019, it was further analysed to what extent the SDGs are mentioned in CEO or president statement in order to underline the SDGs’ strategic importance. In the 2018 reporting period, 13% met this criterion.

SDG12 and SDG13 are critical ecological, social or economic issues for Switzerland, according to GAPFRAME. For this reason, the extent to which Swiss companies set targets in these areas was also analysed:

SDG12: 9% of the companies analysed have set a target, among which, 5% have a SMART target or impact driven target

SDG13: 69% of the companies analysed have set a target, among which 46% have a SMART or impact driven target.

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